


Death Can’t Part Us

by love_write_edit_sleep



Category: Santa Clarita Diet (TV)
Genre: Angst, Crying, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Joel needs a hug, Kissing, My First Work in This Fandom, god I’m gonna miss this show, spoilers for all series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29073249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/love_write_edit_sleep/pseuds/love_write_edit_sleep
Summary: Sheila comes home from a kill to find Joel crying in their room, but why? It has to be because of her, surely, right?
Relationships: Joel Hammond/Sheila Hammond
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Death Can’t Part Us

“Joel? I just had the best Nazi I’ve ever tasted!” Sheila called as she entered her home.  _ Their _ home. Their home that they’d made  _ together _ . She was met with silence. “Honey, you home?”

“He’s upstairs.” Abby announced her presence as she strode into the hallway, sipping a milkshake. Sheila turned her nose up in disgust. “And, fyi, that’s not something you yell before asking who’s in the house.” Abby raised her eyebrows.

“Oh, oops.” Shiela bit back a grin as she ducked into her trademark ‘well what can you do’ shrug. Abby just rolled her eyes and pushed past her Mom.

“Anyways... I’m going to see Eric. See ya, Jack The Ripper.”

“Ooh, I don’t like that one!” Sheila called back, only to receive a door slam in response. She tutted to herself before creeping upstairs, a grin on her face as she thought about scaring Joel for a moment, but decided against it when she remembered how stressed her husband had been lately.

The sound of sniffling made her freeze at her bedroom door.

Sheila’s unbeating heart fell as she immediately recognised the delicate sobbing of her husband. Pushing her ear to the door, she couldn’t help but feel like it was her fault. Had she pushed him past his limits?

What a stupid fucking question. Of course she had. She knew she had. 

One month ago, Joel had never murdered a person, or lied to a cop, or buried a body. He hadn’t been married to a dead woman, he’d been married to Sheila Hammond.  _ Alive  _ Sheila Hammond. And now his wife was a completely new person.

And Joel had changed with her. 

Joel killed for her, buried bodies for her. He risked his life for her and was prepared to pack up and  _ leave town  _ for her. He’d helped her hunt and never even thought to leave her. He’d held her when he thought she’d died and been there ever since, beating himself up for weeks believing it had been his fault that she’d died. 

She was changing her husband, and he was hurting because of it.

“Honey…?” Sheila knocked on the bedroom door gently. A soft intake of breath told her Joel hadn’t expected her. She pushed the door open anyway, smiling at her husband as she found him sitting on the end of their bed, tears streaming down his face.

“Hi, sweetie.” Joel forced a smile, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. It was new, Sheila noticed, to replace one that she’d stained with blood. Blood he’d wanted nothing to do with. “How was your hunt?”

“Not important.” Sheila pushed down her urge to brag about how she’d gone for his neck first and tore out his vocal cords before digging into his torso. “What’s going on?” She whispered, sitting beside him. Joel looked down at his hands, wringing them in his lap.

“I-I’ve been thinking…” Joel shivered slightly, and Sheila automatically wrapped an arm around his shoulders. The same arm Joel had to push back into its socket after they blew up a fracking site. 

Oh yeah, she’d also made him blow up a fracking site and reattach body parts. God, it was a wonder Joel was still with her.

“I know…” Sheila sighed. “But you don’t have to do any of this with me. I can hunt on my own, and I don’t want you to feel trapped in this life. You don’t have to have any part of this. You can go and live a normal life, if that’s what you want.” Sheila smiled, pushing down the lump of emotion in her throat.

Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say, because Joel’s expression grew devastated as fresh tears started trailing down his face.

“Joel?” Sheila gripped her husband by the shoulders. “Honey, talk to me…”

“I don’t want to part!” Joel’s face crumpled as a whine escaped his throat. Sheila immediately pulled him close, his head fitting on her shoulder against her neck like a puzzle piece.

“Part…? Honey, what do you mean?” Sheila asked, rubbing his back gently, not knowing what to do. Joel rarely broke down like this. Sure, she’d seen him cry a few times, and he’d seen her, they weren’t the type of couple to hide their feelings, but this felt different...

“I-I was thinking…” Joel sniffled, twiddling his wedding ring on his finger. “A-about our vows? W-we said ‘T-til death do us part’... A-are we gonna part…?” Joel looked up at his wife, his eyes watery and his lower lip trembling like a child trying not to cry. “Are we even married anymore...?”

“Oh, honey…” Sheila sighed in relief, wiping the tears from his face with her thumb before pulling him even closer. “Of course we are. And as if death could part us! I thought you were upset because I was still here…”

“No, never… I’ll always want you here…” Joel whispered, nuzzling closer and taking his wife’s arm and pulling it until she gave him her hand, letting him play with her wedding ring, his interest now gone from his own.

“Joel… I know a lot has changed, and it’s changed us both. I mean, look at us… We kill people now, and hide bodies, and we’re  _ not  _ good at it. We have a head in the basement, for goodness sake. I know it’s not who we were…” Sheila told him. “I’m not the Sheila you married anymore.”

“But… you’re still my best friend.” Joel breathed, taking her hand in his and holding it firmly. “And I’m not the Joel you married either. We changed together, and we still love each other, right?”

“Of course we do…” Sheila whispered, pulling away and taking his face in her hands, focusing all her attention on him. “I love you so much, I couldn’t imagine my li- my death without you.”

“I can’t imagine my life without you…” Joel choked, propelling forward to kiss Sheila.

“Joel!” Sheila pushed him away gently. “I just ate!”

“Don’t care, gotta kiss you…” Joel lurched forwards again. Sheila allowed it, doing her best to keep her tongue in her own mouth and not ruin the moment. Joel didn’t need to taste Nazi right now. He noticed, however, and whined as he pulled away, pouting.

“Honey.” Sheila giggled, petting his hair. “We’ll do it properly after I brush my teeth, okay?”

“Aw...Okay.” Joel smiled.

“And, as for our vows… We could always renew them?”

“We could?” Joel sat up excitedly, eyes wide with wonder as ideas started forming in his head. “Oh, Abby would be there! She wasn’t there for our wedding!” 

“There’s a reason for that, Joel.” Sheila laughed.

“But… How’re we gonna find a priest to do it? I mean, we can’t just say ‘hey can you skip the  _ til death do us part  _ bit please’ without him-” Joel caught himself as Sheila gave him a look. “ _ Or her _ \- asking questions and possibly refusing to do it.”

“...We could always ask Gary.”

“Gary?” Joel squinted at her. “He’s not a priest.”

“He can become an officiant online.” Sheila suggested. “You can become anything online nowadays, and he’d love it. He said he’s wanted to do something new for a while.”

“Is it official if he’s undead?” Joel asked.

“There’s nothing that says a severed head can’t do it.” Sheila shrugged. Her face softened. “Honey, I love you, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know that… I love you too. I just… I don’t wanna lose you…” Joel sighed. Sheila smiled, taking his hands in hers once more.

“You won’t, honey. Death can’t part us.”


End file.
